Our Family's Journey Through Life's Surprises

Richard Michlethwaite Galloway

Up until very recently there was a program in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints known as Home Teaching. The program didn’t go away, but was modified and is now known as Ministering. This isn’t the first time such a change has happened. Before Home Teachers there were Ward Teachers. Ward Teaching was the program from 1912 to April 1963. It was during the Ward Teaching era that there is the earliest evidence of the Kirby’s (my dad‘s family) and the Galloway’s (my mom’s family) intermingling.

Richard was one of Helen’s Ward Teachers from Fall 1934 to Spring 1935. He was nearing the end of his life and she was just beginning her married life. She is quoted in a family history book, Richard Michlethwaite & Mary “Elizabeth” Galloway, concerning Richard’s conduct durring his Ward Teaching visits: “He cared a lot about his personal appearance. When he came Ward Teaching, he managed to sit in front of the mirror as he could rearrange his hair and make sure it was in place. He primped throughout his partner’s (Fred Anderson) Ward Teaching lesson.”

(it is pictured in the top right of the below photo) and is now in my mom’s possession. Since this quote was discovered the mirror is now thought of as both a Kirby and a Galloway family heirloom It’s a good thing a Galloway married a Kirby.

It is fun to see the mirror in person and imagine my ancestor from one side of the family looking at himself “close up” in the home of another ancestor from the other side of the family. It shows how family history can help us realise how connected we all are.